Kathleen Harrison - Psilocybin Mushrooms and Salvia Divinorum Among the Mazatecs of Mexico

Indigenous Mazatec practices in the Sierra Mazateca region of Oaxaca, Mexico, provide a deep, ancestral framework for engaging with plant and fungal consciousness. The Mazatec people utilize specific psilocybin mushrooms and Salvia divinorum within a ceremonial context, often integrating these practices with Catholic syncretism. Detailed observations of these traditions highlight the significance of relational knowledge and the specific, localized understanding required to engage with these powerful, non-human entities. The presentation underscores the resilience of these indigenous cultures and their sophisticated, plant-based medicine techniques, despite ongoing societal pressures and historical efforts to marginalize their traditional ways of knowing.